But the face was Cecily Shepherd.
39
LENNON
Everything hurtsand I’m dying.
The thought fluttered through my aching brain before I was fully conscious. That dull, steady throb was my entire existence. Maybe I could opt out of being alive for a while. Come back to life when it didn’t suck so much. Was unconsciousness really that bad? I pushed back from the pain. The darkness was lovely.
But there was no Jeremiah in the darkness.
I grabbed hold of the pain and dragged myself toward it. My eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. It was like they were glued shut. I tried again. Focused on the pain. Moved toward it.
My eyelids blinked open, scraping against my eyeballs that felt as gritty as if someone had poured abucket of sand in them. Something fuzzy and purple was under my face. A blanket? No, it was shag carpet. Where was I? It was too dark to see much of anything.
I jerked upright and immediately regretted it. The movement caused pain to sear through me. I screamed and clutched my head. There was a lump near my temple. My hand came away slightly sticky. Blood.
What the fuck was going on?
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember. The kitchen. A man. Had he taken me? No, wait, there was someone else?—
A door opened behind me and mellow light illuminated the darkness. “Oh, good, you’re awake.” The familiar female voice was full of relief.
I turned slowly, not making the same mistake twice, and squinted at who stood there. “Cecily?” I croaked. “Are you…are you hurt, too? What’s going on?”
“It’s going to be okay, Lennon. I’m here now. Here, take this.” She handed me two brown pills and an unopened bottle of water. “For the headache.”
Gingerly, I took the pills and water from her and unscrewed the bottle cap. Everything felt surreal. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
She peered closer at the crown of my head. “Yikes, that’s a nasty bump. Sorry about that, and the stun gun. I really didn’t want to hurt you, but I didn’t have a choice. Did you know chloroform isn’t like what you see in movies? It takes a while to take effect. You can’t justplop a chloroform rag on someone’s face and expect them to pass out. Plus, it’s super dangerous.”
I swallowed down the pills with a long gulp of water while she continued her monologue.
“I guess every method of making someone lose consciousness is at least alittledangerous, though. I mean, that guy who attacked you? That was crazy. Boom, dead. Good thing he gave me a chance to practice. I could have accidentally killed you.”
I blinked.Cecilyhad hit me?
She burst out laughing. “Thelookon your face. Sorry, I know it’s not funny. I’m a little hyped. All that adrenaline, you know?” She took the bottle back from me and took a sip. At least that meant it wasn’t poisoned? “Who was that guy, anyway?”
“The one who attacked me?” I rubbed my too-dry eyes. “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it has to do with my ex in New York. He had some shady business dealings.”Benny. Oh, god. Nausea roiled my stomach.
Cecily tsked, shaking her head. “What do I keep telling you, Lennon? You have the worst taste in men. The absolute worst.”
What do I keep telling you?
The puzzle pieces clicked into place.
“It was you all along. You sent me the postcards.”
She laughed. “Of course it was me. But you knew that, right? Deep down, you knew it was me.”
I hoped my thoughts weren’t evident on my face.No, bitch, I didn’t know it was you. If I had, I would have whacked you with a frying pan.
She looked at me with hopeful eyes, waiting. I knew what she wanted me to say. I was so damn good at that. Reading people. Telling them exactly what they wanted to hear, even when they didn’t know what that was themselves. Usually I found a way to shape it into something true. Sometimes—like with Jeremiah—true was all it was.
With Cecily, I was going to lie my ass off.
“I knew it was a friend,” I said. “Ihopedit was you.”
